Archive for the ‘Books’ Category

Summary: Fascinating book covering the whole breadth of high performance Python. It starts with detailed discussion of various profiling methods, continues with chapters on performance in standard Python, then focuses on high performance using arrays, compiling to C and various approaches to parallel programming. I learnt a lot from the book, and have already started improving […]

Summary: A useful guide to automating ArcGIS using Python, which is fully up-to-date with the latest version of ArcGIS. Definitely provides “quick answers to common problems”, but it may take more effort to get a deep understanding of the methods used. Good breadth of coverage – but notably lacks raster examples – and well explained […]

Summary: This book takes you all the way from Morse Code to a fully working computer, explaining everything along the way. What’s more, it’s a great read too! If you ever wondered how a computer worked then buy this and read it – even if you think you already know (unless you’re, you know, a chip designer at […]

Summary: I’d recommend this for people interested in adding Matplotlib functionality to GUI and web applications, and for those who need a bit more information on how to do advanced plotting with Matplotlib. Most general users will be able to get the information they need from the Matplotlib website. Reference: Tosi, S., 2009, Matplotlib for […]

Summary: Very useful for reference while producing graphs, and very comprehensive (including heat-maps, 3D graphs and maps). Reference: Mittal, H. V., 2011, R Graph Cookbook, Packt Publishing, Birmingham, UK, 272 pages, Publisher’s Website As a scientist I often need to plot graphs of my data, so I am keen to learn more about how to […]

Summary: Great book – both for GIS concepts and for teaching Python libraries. Lives up to the boast on the front cover – you really will learn to create complete mapping applications, learning a lot of useful tools and techniques on the way. Reference: Westra, E., 2010, Python Geospatial Development, Packt Publishing, Birmingham, UK, 508 […]

Summary: Very interesting, and great fun for a geek like me! Now I just need to find the time/money to visit these places… Reference: Graham-Cumming, J., 2009, The Geek Atlas, O’Reilly, 544 pages O’Reilly Link I’m a great fan of John Graham Cumming’s blog, so when the chance came to review his book, The Geek […]

Summary: Very comprehensive and very useful, but not good for a beginner. Great book though – definitely has a place on my bookshelf. Reference: Adler, J., 2010, R in a Nutshell, O’Reilly, Sebastopol, CA, 611 pages O’Reilly Link After reviewing a book about R designed for beginners (see my previous post) I thought I’d step […]

Summary: If you can get past the strange underlying story, then this gives a good introduction to R to someone with no programming experience. However, if you have any experience with other programming languages then another book is likely to be more suitable. Reference: Quick, J. M., Statistical Analysis in R: Beginners Guide, Packt Publishing, […]